Exhibition "The Unknown World of Old Books: the Heritage of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania", Vilnius Picture Gallery, 22 November 2023 - 31 March 2024

Exhibition "The Unknown World of Old Books: the Heritage of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania", Vilnius Picture Gallery, 22 November 2023 - 31 March 2024.

Four libraries of Vilnius – Wroblewski of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences, Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania, Vilnius University and Lithuanian Audiosensory Museum – and the Lithuanian National Museum of Art present the exhibition "The Unknown World of Old Books". For the first time, the scattered heritage of the libraries of the nobles of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania is being opened to the public in one place.

Vilnius libraries store about half a million old books from the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries. It is impossible to recognize such an abundance immediately. But it is possible to show the diversity and beauty of these books, to find out who read them and why. In the exhibition, visitors will get acquainted with the books of the library of nine famous families of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania – Radvilas, Chodkevičius, Sapiegas, Kosakovskis, Plateriai, Oginskis, Huten-Čapskis, Lopacinskis, Tiškevičius – and at the same time with the owners of these libraries – the great bibliophiles of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. These personalities and their bibliophilic activities testify to the wide European amplitude of Lithuanian cultural relations. It is expected that the exhibition will encourage further research into the history of Lithuanian culture, libraries and books.

The organizers were successful in selecting the exhibits for this exhibition – they managed to identify two books from the Nesvyžius Radziwił Library in a new way. One of them came from the personal collection of His Excellency the President of the Republic of Lithuania Dr. Gitanas Nausėda, the other – from the collections of the Wroblewski Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences. The exposition was also enriched by two exhibits from private collections – the collections of Dr. Jaunius Gumbis and the Lithuanian Art Knowledge Centre "Tartle".

This exhibition is intended for both book lovers and specialists. In order to bring the art of the old book closer to today's book creators, artists, book researchers, and a wide range of readers and visitors, the descriptions of the exhibition are presented in Lithuanian and English, and they can also be accessed in an audio way.

The exhibition is dedicated to the 700th anniversary of Vilnius.